


make the rules up on my own

by orphan_account



Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: M/M, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, They figure it out eventually, accidental shirt sharing, dumb boys that know nothing, guilt and feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 18:51:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19836394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It was all the sun's fault, really.





	make the rules up on my own

**Author's Note:**

> i respect them and their relationships. this is fiction.

Sometimes Noel stayed overnight at Cody's place. 

It didn't happen too often - he had to worry about finding the time to, what with his decently packed schedule, so maybe he enjoyed it an embarrassing amount when the opportunity arose. No work and no errands left what free time he had to either taking a rest at home, or going straight to Cody.

Staying up till midnight like teenage girls during a sleepover, passing out at around one in the morning, so heavily that they usually ended up wasting a good chunk of the next day.

Cody spent a healthy amount of time on Noel's couch as well, though he tended to leave before dark with his only explanation being a joking "Ollie doesn't want me to stay", which was total bullshit and left Noel wondering if it was something he did. He couldn't argue.

Cody was always more than welcoming when it came to Noel staying over, though.

Perhaps that wasn't surprising; it wouldn't be, not when both parties were pining idiots with too much to say but no courage to say it.

Cody had been crushing on Noel since day one, something about his laugh just steepened the ground beneath Cody's feet until he fucking fell. He knew, the second he started making jokes more for Noel than his viewers - he was in deep. The worst part about all of it was that it didn't mellow out over time, grew stronger and more frustrating, harder to ignore. 

He hadn't ever had an interest in anything other than girls, so it jarred him to realize that he wasn't as secure in his sexuality as he had thought.

And Noel - Noel had seen some things. Read some comments. Gotten a few confusing boners - he developed a fixation, and it grew into something stronger. You didn't lay around in bed all night trying to ignore how hard you got when you thought about your friend's mouth on your dick and call it nothing. It wasn't the prospect of getting head that got to him so badly, that wasn't exactly new, but head from Cody was a completely different story. 

It wasn't long before he started thinking about holding Cody's hand, kissing him, staying over  _ far  _ more often.

Regardless of how willing they both were to spend the whole night together, they always attempted to search for excuses rather than just ask, and that resulted in many different awkward scenarios that could've been avoided. It was like being in middle school again, finding excuses to get close to your crush without exposing anything.

Though typically said crush didn't even know you existed - they both might've been a bit luckier on that front. 

The most recent opportunity was brought on by the scorching heat of L.A., presenting Cody with the bittersweet option of inviting Noel to suffer with him - you know, something that friends did, apparently. Misery loves company, right?

The air was humid, the worst level of suffocating, and it made their clothes uncomfortably clingy. 

By the time Noel had pulled up, it was bordering on unbearable. 

His movements were just a little bit sluggish, seemingly worn out despite the fact that he'd just been sitting on his ass for the duration of the drive. Though, when Cody thought about it, the heat most likely turned his car into a fucking oven. 

He tried to ignore how awful that made him feel. 

He watched from the doorframe as Noel dragged himself toward the door, already curling his fingertips against the hem of his shirt. 

The tiny action brought a flush to Cody's cheeks, one that he could easily pass off as the heat, and he tried not to stare as the fabric was lifted an inch. Noel wasn't built, but he also wasn't unfit by any means. He looked unreasonably good, rather, and that was Cody's whole problem.

“You better move your ass, dude, I ain't about to get charged for public indecency,” Noel said as he reached him, the ever-present inkling of humor lacing his words in spite of his obvious suffering. 

Cody's throat felt too dry to answer without sounding odd, so he just nodded once and stepped back and to the side, allowing Noel to brush past him. 

He closed the door maybe a little too quickly, and followed the other man to the kitchen. God, he was so whipped.

“I'm so close to going to the airport and booking a flight to Canada. This is bullshit.” 

Noel didn't look at Cody as he spoke, too busy tugging the offensive article off, grimacing as it caught on his skin on the way up. He tossed it over his shoulder so he could move on to raiding Cody's fridge, searching for a water because he'd finished his own easily on the way over.

Cody was busy fighting the urge to let his mind wonder. 

His will was barely strong enough to push down the thoughts, the need to get his hands on that tan skin, faltering especially quickly when his eyes betrayed him by mapping out Noel's shoulders, the curve of his lower back. 

He had really good posture, didn't he? His eyes trailed down along Noel's spine, flicking downward to his ass for a brief second before a voice shook him out of it.

“I would rather get frostbite on my dick than deal with this for another second.”

Cody's cheeks burned once again, hot with shame even though Noel hadn't actually caught him looking, and his mind raced to find a response. It was hard to do so when he was still overwhelmed by a sight that he's definitely seen before and should technically be used to. 

Any normal person would have learned to fucking control themselves at least a little bit, so why couldn't Cody? 

He laughed, but it was flat and painfully awkward. Guilt-ridden, almost. 

“Yeah.”

Noel turned back to him, water in hand, a look of vague confusion twisting his features. Maybe, just a little bit of concern.

All Cody could focus on was the expanse of Noel's chest and stomach, and he wanted to pinch himself.

“You good, man? Acting kinda weird.”

“I am not. It's just-”  _ you're hot. _ “It's hot.” 

Noel seemed to accept that, albeit hesitantly, like he wasn't quite falling for it but he didn't want to pry just yet. Cody let himself believe it was fine.

“So! It's hot, and I'm fucking dying. Let's go Netflix and die of heat stroke, yeah?”

×××

Despite the nerves pulsing endlessly through his brain, Cody ended up removing his shirt as well and tossing it off to side; similar to how Noel had done a few minutes prior. He wasn't insecure, necessarily, he knew that he wasn't horribly out of shape, but still - it heightened his nerves to an uncomfortable level. 

He'd rather be uncomfortable emotionally than physically, though, he wouldn't aide the heat in it's destructive tirade.

Noel talked briefly about removing his pants too, and Cody's brain short-circuited long enough that by the time he tuned back in, Noel had decided against it and moved on. 

He'd laughed it off. 

×××

It was hanging in the air, unspoken, that Noel wasn't going to leave that night. It was obvious in the way he never moved farther than the kitchen or the bathroom as it got darker and darker outside.

Cody wasn't about to ask him to leave. 

They ended up watching nature shows most of the night, jumping on every opportunity to clown the fuck out of odd looking birds or insects. It was their main intent going into it, anyways. 

Noel was charming and hilarious, because of course he was, the asshole. Cody let himself fall into the familiar routine of ribbing, Noel's wit against his use of edge and shock. Every time he got a genuine laugh, it warmed him up to the point where it just sort of hurt that he couldn't have him the way that he wanted to. 

They fell asleep a bit earlier than normal, right where they sat because neither of them could've been bothered to move. When Cody woke up, he was alone. 

He had a text from Noel, apologizing for having to leave so soon, and Cody ignored how soft he felt just reading it. Noel was always thoughtful as hell, and Cody loved him for it. He loved him for a lot of reasons. 

He stood, fiercely ignoring the ache circulating throughout his body, and picked up the shirt left on the ground just to deposit it over the back of the couch. Out of the way, at least, right?

He was a few steps away when he paused.

The reasonable parts of his brain were telling him to jump in the shower immediately to wash off the disgusting dried sweat crusted over his skin, but there was even more curious persistence in the voice telling him to take another look at the shirt. He knew it was dumb, but he followed that direction, picked up the shirt to look closer.

It wasn't long before he realized that a couple things were off, even with the shirt inside-out. Sure, at first glance, it looked like the shirt he'd been wearing the night before. But closer inspection revealed it to be a shade darker than the off-white color of his own, and.. smaller? Yeah, a peek at the tag confirmed it to be a size smaller. 

He wished he could feign ignorance, but he knew full well who's shirt it was. It wasn't anything big or important, people forgot clothes at their friend's houses all the time, Noel could easily drop by and pick it up - the problem, so to speak, was the new image plaguing Cody's mind of Noel running around in  _ his  _ shirt.

He didn't have any complaints about the fact that he was short one tee for the time being, of course not, but the way his stomach flipped upon itself imagining Noel wearing a shirt that was slightly too big, knowing it was his own, was a bit much to handle. He felt a strange whirl of emotion; giddiness, a bit of fear, and some odd mixture of possessiveness and domesticity. Noel wasn't his, so why did it suddenly feel like he was? 

Cody texted him immediately, letting him know that he'd taken the wrong shirt, that it wasn't a problem and that he could return it whenever he wanted to.

(Though maybe he didn't want him to.)

×××

Noel hadn't even noticed that he'd picked up the wrong shirt. He'd woken up early that morning with a slight headache and an intense need to sleep in his own bed. Cody was passed out a few feet from him, peaceful and relaxed, and maybe Noel's quick glance was held a bit too long to be described as such.

He couldn't exactly help it.

He wished for a brief second that the bullshit logic in Sleepy Beauty made a bit more sense in reality, as he tried fruitlessly not to stare at Cody's lips. The urge had been there, to wake him up with a sweet little kiss, but the true option was not, and he was suddenly in a rush to get out of there before he got too far into his thoughts. 

He'd thrown on the first shirt he saw and bolted, texting Cody on his way out the door to apologize, because he had definitely felt a bit like an asshole. Vaguely, he felt like one of those insecure fucks that played romantic for one night but were long gone by morning, like some kind of pussy ass Cinderella.

Except, there was nothing romantic about boy's night with your straight best friend. At least for them, there wasn't - he didn't know what other people got up to in their lives.

The slight guilt wasn't enough to convince him to stay, it just rode the coattails of his overall discomfort as he drove home in silence because his brain couldn't handle the stimulation of music that early.

He couldn't fully shake the feeling that something was off, even after coming up with no obvious surface problems, and his need to get more sleep outweighed his ability to access any level of critical thinking so it wasn't like he could really worry about it.

His mind buzzed with residual contentment from the night before, and he held onto that instead.

He'd reached home before he knew it after that.

The whole entire drive he'd had the intention of practically phasing through the rest of his home just to get to his bed and sleep, but in actuality he'd made it as far as stripping his jeans off and crawling under the covers before he realized that he wasn't sleepy anymore. It was frustrating, really, because on a more logical scale he really did need to get more rest, and he knew that. 

He sprawled out on his stomach with his face pressed into his pillow, muffling a harsh sigh in the plush of the fabric. He didn't really feel like doing much else, but he knew there were things he should technically be doing, and that was the driving force behind him maneuvering himself out of bed and into the bathroom.

He stood in front of the mirror, just barely keeping from swaying on his feet, and snatched his toothbrush up out of it's holder. His eyes flicked up to his reflection, taking in the sight of heavy bags and fucked up messy hair, which he ran a hand through only for it to bounce back. He sighed. 

“All this bullshit just for Cody.”

He was seconds away from turning his attention back to the task at hand when he noticed the lack of a breast pocket on his shirt. He could've sworn, even in his disoriented state, that his shirt had had a pocket. Now that he thought about it - a couple things were a bit different. 

It didn't take a fucking rocket scientist to figure out that it wasn't his. Two and two, the shirt was Cody's, and he'd taken it instead of his own. 

He was never one to be dramatic, the way his toothbrush slipped from his fingers was purely accidental and not at all caused by the tremors that shot up his spine. It clattered against the porcelain of his sink, almost comical in the timing.

He was wearing Cody's shirt.

Suddenly he was far too aware of the fabric brushing against his skin when he moved, acute pressure that was hard to ignore and amplified by his steadily rising body temperature. Goddammit, God fucking- no, why was his dick already becoming interested, why? It was such a stupid, mundane thing to get aroused over, just a dumb piece of cotton and why was he still getting hard - 

He groaned, irritated at himself, at Cody, at his own dumb dick.

Yet somehow, he still found himself trailing fingers across his stomach, shivering minutely as his brain immediately, helpfully replaced his own hands with Cody's.

His fight ebbed away embarrassingly quickly. 

He ended up back in his bed, Cody's shirt rucked up around his ribs, muffling moans of Cody's name using the collar of said shirt as he worked a hand over his dick.

He'd become somewhat shameless in the endeavor, mind blank aside from the scattered thoughts of how Cody would react if he saw him in that position - or at least, how he wished he would. 

He wanted him to lose control, use Noel for anything he needed, own him. 

It was definitely new, the fantasy that played out, he hadn't quite gotten used to picturing himself as submissive. The furthest he'd ever gone was cautious fingering while imagining - wishing - that it was Cody taking him apart.

(He'd come harder than he thought he physically could that time.)

In his mind, now, Cody was there with him. 

He was.. He was fucking him, fingers tangled in the shirt as leverage to yank Noel onto his cock. He was whispering, praising, telling Noel just how good he looked - and all Noel wanted was to sit back and take it. 

It was new, yeah, but so far from bad. He just wished he could find the patience to stop and get his lube, work a couple fingers into himself like he had before, further the illusion.

He didn't really have the time to, though, his whole body felt pleasantly warm, and he didn't feel like he was going to last much longer with the restless thoughts running through his head; Cody's lips on his, Cody's hands all over him, Cody, Cody, Cody-

He came.

He came  _ hard,  _ shooting a strip of cum along his stomach, coating his own fingers. He knew he was being too loud, too obvious, but he couldn't help it, whining Cody's name as he rode it out.

He didn't get to ride it out long.

The guilt surfaced almost immediately, it was like a wave cresting and promptly crashing into a bed of sharp ass rocks. It was amplified, even, when he looked down to find that he had gotten fucking jizz on Cody's shirt, dotting the hem and a few inches above. 

“Oh fuck.”

Panic followed rather closely, leeching away his afterglow even faster. 

He moved faster than he ever had in his life, yanking the shirt up and off while simultaneously scrambling out of bed, which was difficult and probably extremely dumb looking but he couldn't care less - all he cared about was getting the messy shirt into the washer immediately so he could pretend nothing had happened.

He could easily lie and tell Cody that he washed it out of the goodness of his heart, pure courtesy and not at all because he'd jacked off all over it like a sick, depraved freak. He told himself that, over and over, as he started the machine and watched the evidence get wiped away by detergent and the merciless spin cycle. 

It did, eventually, come to his attention that he couldn't just sit there and watch the shit, so he pushed it to the back of his mind best he could and returned to the scene of the crime, which was a walk of shame in itself.

His phone pinged with a very conveniently timed text as he reached the door, one that he soon found to be from Cody, which was  _ exactly _ what he needed. Thanks a lot, God, you silly son of a fuck.

He ignored the way his stomach flipped and opened the message, dread settling in heavier for a minute when he discovered the context within. Cody knew he had his shirt. Fuck, dude, he probably knew exactly what he did with it, too, he was so screwed-

He took a deep breath, and hit the call button.

Ringing.

Ringing.

Ringi-

“What's up, dude?”

“Hey-” okay, a voice crack. Great. He cleared his throat. “Hey. I uh- is it okay if I get that shirt back to you a bit later? I accidentally, um, spilled some shit on it. Yeah, got clumsy, my bad.”

He heard Cody begin to say something, but another quick thought took over his tongue and he interjected to add, “I'm washing it for you.”

“Oh. It's whatever, dude, just do what you need to do. What did you spill, though?”

_ Cum _ . “Fuckin', orange juice. Nasty shit, probably gonna stain. Do you really need it back? You gotta have, like, other shirts you can wear.”

Cody was quiet for a nerve-wracking second, before his voice chimed back up and Noel let himself relax a little.

“Yeah, I guess you're right - but fuck you, still. I'd say you owe me a shirt but I still have yours, I'll just take a piss all over it to even things out.”

“What the- fuck  _ you _ , dude, you wanna play dirty?” Noel's voice pitched lower into something he hoped came off as overly threatening. “I'll show you dirty.” 

Cody chuckled at that, but it sounded oddly strained, leaving Noel to worry if he'd gone too far somehow. Or worse, made him uncomfortable.

If only he'd known that it was the exact opposite.

*You already did, man. Showed me and my shirt real good.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

Counterargument: Fuck me. “Maybe I will. Talkin' real big for a little guy, there.”

“You're literally shorter than me.”

“I will fuck you up.” 

They ended up getting ridiculously deep into it, spent a good 40 minutes tossing insults back and forth, and both of them came out of it feeling weirdly giddy.

Noel was the first to say goodbye, apologizing nonchalantly one last time just before he hung up. He let out a sigh that he wasn't even aware he'd been holding in. 

He could throw the shirt away.

He could put it right into the trash and never think about it or the incident again, but what good would that do? The deed was done, he couldn't take it back, he'd already gone and tunneled himself further down the rabbit hole. 

He couldn't wear it around, obviously, but-.. No, what the fuck, no, he wasn't going to keep it and turn himself into even more of a creep. A creep and a liar.

He needed to come clean. He felt pretty awful for lying, almost as bad as he felt for doing it at all.

Even if he knew Cody wouldn't be missing it and that he could move on with life, let everything be normal, the guilt was growing and he knew he would eventually succumb to his need to tell the truth. 

×××

Eventually, Noel did show up to pick up his shirt. At least, his unexpected visit was disguised as such, because he didn't automatically leave as soon as he had it. He didn't mention anything about staying longer, either, he just sort of.. did it. Walked into Cody's living room and took a seat like he owned the place, which was annoyingly endearing for some reason. 

It always was. No matter how many times Noel proved himself to be ridiculously comfortable at Cody's place, it still caught him off guard and warmed him from head to toe, which, yeah, was pretty fucking corny but hey - he was in love, alright?

“You didn't piss on it,” Noel noted jokingly when handed the shirt, studying the untouched expanse of it for a second. Cody laughed a bit too hard as he took a seat beside him, close enough to feel Noel's body heat but not enough to be touching.

“Yeah, thought I'd be the bigger person.”

“Figuratively, sure.”

Cody scoffed at that, and took that chance to push up his sleeve and flex his arm right beside Noel's head. He knew he wasn't exactly jacked as hell, but he was proud of his progress, thought it wasn't too unimpressive. Definitely more muscle than Noel's skinny ass had, that was for sure.

Noel seemed to flush a little bit.

“Alright, King Kong, I get it.” 

It was defeat, pure and simple. Cody beamed and dropped his arm mercifully, fighting the underlying urge to preen and impress. 

“Told you.”

He really didn't feel quite as smug as he was acting, though he did definitely felt a bit more jazzed than before. Noel rolled his eyes at him, and he knew it was just a gesture. 

He picked up the remote with a flourish. 

“Wanna watch something?”

Noel kind of stiffened beside him, body language and demeanor noticeably more tense. He avoided eye contact, and Cody frowned at the sudden change.

“Actually, I- I wanted to talk to you about something? It's kinda been eating at me for, like, a couple days and I have to get that shit out, even-.. Even though it might fuck everything up between us. You're my friend, and I took things too far.”

“What do you mean?”

“Okay. Um. Remember when I said that I spilled orange juice on your shirt?” He paused to swallow, visibly steeling himself in a way that made Cody feel even more nervous. “I lied. I uh- fuck, dude, you're gonna fucking hate me.”

His voice cracked on the word “hate”, and Cody wanted nothing more than to pull him into a hug. He didn't move, though, just waited with his eyes trained on Noel and let him talk. 

“I fucking- I came on it. I'm a pervert and I jacked off while I was wearing it and I got jizz on it. And hey, that isn't even the worst part, man!” He laughed, but it was bitter and humorless. “It wasn't an accident. I knew what I was doing. I was doing it because of you, and your stupid fucking shirt, and I took my dumb crush too far and practically violated you. What kind of a friend am I?”

By that point he'd covered his face with both his hands, curled over on the very edge of the cushion. 

Cody's brain was static, fuzzy other than the single word that it pinpointed out of his confession; crush. 

Noel - Noel liked him?

“It was already bad enough that I'd done it, I couldn't just lie about it. I'm sorry. I wouldn't blame you if you kicked me out right now, to be honest, I'm so fucking gro-”

Cody kissed him. He just, leaned forward, pulled Noel's hands away from his face and sealed his lips over his, cutting off his rant. 

For something as monumental and life-changing as a first kiss, it just felt.. Normal. It felt  _ right _ , like a puzzle piece clicking into place, and Cody could feel Noel melt into it. Intertwining his fingers with Cody's properly after they were freed from his grip, he gave as good as he got, pouring every bit of frustration from lost time into the kiss. 

It was actually pretty perfect.

When the time came to pull away, they both tried to speak at once, which resulted in Cody getting flustered and giving Noel the chance to go first. He didn't break full contact, didn't let Noel's hands go, kept them linked and tried not to think about how nice it looked. Noel made no move to break apart either as he spoke.

“I take it you're not too pissed off?"

"Oh, I'm pretty pissed off. But only 'cause you assumed I would hate you over it, what the fuck? Who do you think I am?"

Noel laughed sheepishly at that, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, guess I was being pretty dramatic. Then again, though, what I did was pretty serious and fucked up, y'know? Creepy as hell.”

“Actually, if I'm being totally honest - it's hot. Feels good on the ego.”

“Shut up, I hate you.”

“You don't,” Cody responded, and it was prompting something. 

Noel smiled.

“Yeah, I really don't. I've actually- God, I'm dumb. I've liked you for a long ass time.”

That was it, what Cody wanted to hear. On the surface, he managed to school his face to look cool and knowing, but inside he was on fire. 

“We're both dumb if we've liked each other this long and never said shit.”

“Colossal morons.”

Cody laughed, and leaned in for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> i got lazy fast and it's obvious. i should just quit honestly


End file.
